Transform
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Vocal and hype driven Electronic Dance Music (EDM) act Transform talk to Louder Than The Music about their latest single, 'Louder Now', and how they were drawn to their EDM brand of music.
For those who haven't heard of you before, can you tell us a bit about yourselves and how you got involved in making music?
Jon: We come from ministry/missionary families. My Dad is a South African and he’s been a pastor in Denver Colorado for over 40 years. My mom has been a worship leader all that time and even before! Missions, evangelism and worship...
Read More Vocal and hype driven Electronic Dance Music (EDM) act Transform talk to Louder Than The Music about their latest single, 'Louder Now', and how they were drawn to their EDM brand of music.
For those who haven't heard of you before, can you tell us a bit about yourselves and how you got involved in making music?
Jon: We come from ministry/missionary families. My Dad is a South African and he’s been a pastor in Denver Colorado for over 40 years. My mom has been a worship leader all that time and even before! Missions, evangelism and worship were infectious for me. I had thoughts/dreams of doing music as a child. I grew up on hip-hop & went to West Sussex, England for a DTS with YWAM and learned about The World Wide Message Tribe (The Message Trust) and 65 DBA, then later MIC in South Africa. I just wanted to be a part of something like that. Then I met Tim in College, he taught me to DJ, we (and others) started Transform. At first we threw warehouse raves as an outreach, later I got married to Angie, and the rest is history.
Tim: Somewhat similar background as Jon. My, and my wife’s (Lorna) parents were in ministry most of our lives (Pastors - yes, we are both PKs - Preacher Kids), so naturally our family has been very involved in ministry. Both Lorna and I have been involved in music for quite a while, playing on various worship teams at church. In terms of Transform, after a long stint of DJing in the dance music scene, I began dabbling in music production. However, once Transform started to get established a bit, with the help of my wife (who is very musically gifted), I started taking production more seriously. And, as Jon said above, the rest is history...
Tell us about your new single 'Louder Now' and what the inspiration behind it was?
Jon: We really love crowd interaction! High energy DJ sets are a priority. A few years ago some simple lyrics came to mind. Then thought how cool if they were a “call (to the crowd) and a response (from them)”. We used to play this show in Winter Park, Colorado and Taylor, who was part of Transform at the time, dropped this “melbourne bounce” style track in the set. The crowd instantly went to another level. So when thinking of this track… let’s put the crowd interaction together with that sound; and so… “Louder Now” is here! I love that it thankfully reflects that “I was fading, but now I’m found”. That speaks of being found by Jesus. Jesus, being God, coming to earth, dying on the cross to pay for our sins, and rising again! He’s alive! We were “fading”, but He found us.
Tim: This was a fun one for sure. On top of what has already been mentioned, it's really interesting because, as Transform, we seem to cover a lot of different genres within the EDM realm. But, we knew it was about time to drop another party hype track, and we were thrilled with how it turned out.
Do you have any plans to release more music in the near future?
Absolutely - 100%. We will release a remix of our song “Setlist” soon. It’s a song that is an ode to the history of Transform. We have another song coming about forgiveness. We have lots of others in the queue that we have started or are close to being finished. We are grateful that we have more music than ever. Songwriting and releasing music has become a very high priority for us.
What message would you like people to take from your music?
Jesus // Life // Worship - really. We want to use storytelling and grow in our writing to make songs about what God puts in our heart! But at the core of what’s already there is Jesus // Life // Worship
Sharing Jesus - The massive love of Jesus and the Truth of The Gospel. We always want to share with everyone that there is a God that loves them! We are separated from Him because of our sin; with hell as our future. But He sent Jesus, His Son, to pay the price for our sin by dying on a cross. After that He rose again and He’s alive today! If we trust Him as our only way to heaven, we can be set free to begin a relationship with Him and one day be with God forever and ever in heaven. We want to give people an opportunity to make the decision to trust Jesus. (John 3:16-18, Romans 5:8, 6:23, 10:13).
Defending Life - Encouragement to save lives…literally. We want to encourage pregnant mothers and fathers to keep their child alive. We hope to inspire this generation to be like Esther, to open their mouths and use their influence to abolish abortion, for the church at large to repent of our apathy. Like Wilberforce with slavery, we want to raise up millions of people to become true abolitionists of abortion. A modern day abolitionist “Clapham Crew!” Angie’s Gran was a huge influence on this part of the ministry & we are grateful. (Proverbs 24:11, Esther 4:16 & 8:, and Matthew 25:31-46).
Leading God’s people into Worship - The Presence of God. We want to lead God’s people into His presence to worship Him! We want to celebrate all He has done, to dance with King Jesus, and dance upon injustice! (Revelation 5:11-13).
We believe that if people can experience these aspects through our shows and/or music, then it’s an absolute success! In all of it though, we hope to exude joy and bring life throughout! All this, during a crazy-massive dance party! It’s just so awesome to be able to use the thing you love to make much of Jesus!
How would you describe your style of music and what are your influences?
Our Style? - EDM, House, Progressive House. Pop & “Hip-Hype” EDM (Electronic Dance Music)
Our Influences? -
Jon: Jyradelix (Jyro La Villa & Jerome Fontamillas), World Wide Message Tribe, MIC (South Africa), Deliriou5, Tim Hughes, LZ7, Ferry Corsten, Audien, Kygo, Johnny Cash, RunDMC & Beastie Boys, DC Talk (not all artists listed may be beneficial to listen to!)
Tim: This is always so difficult…too many names to even mention. But a few over a long period of time…. Kaskade, Audien, Tritonal, Miguel Migs, Artwork Sounds, Scott Blackwell, AJ Mora, Richard Vission, Andy Hunter, SFC, MuteMath, Anberlin, Dayglow, Paul Baloche, Matt Redman, Stryper…. and so many more… LOL
If you could collaborate with any artist, who would it be and why?
Jon:
Johnny Cash - he was the ultimate songwriting storyteller, and sang songs for everyone.
Martin Smith - I’ve just looked up to him forever as a worship leader and songwriter. I paid £1 to get into the hall for a Cutting Edge night. Years later he prayed for me in Arvada, Colorado. His life has affected mine.
Tim:
Kaskade - I believe he is one of the most talented producers out there and can cover a wide range of genres.
Would be cool to collab on a worship song with any of our favorite worship song writers. There are so many… maybe someone like Phil Whickam
How would you define success in your career as an artist?
Jon: I love this question! I plan to win a grammy and to play the Hollywood Bowl, God willing. But If we lead people to Jesus, if we saved lives from abortion and built a tidal wave of people to do the same (to abolish abortion), if we helped usher a generation into the presence of God to worship Him intimately, if we used our talents and had joy in the process… that would be a success. Even more than that, I’d say if we were obedient to Jesus, that is success as an artist. It would need to be my families success, not mine alone. If they were joyful and if we were all running together, that is a success.
Tim: I hate this question! LOL.. JK. I would say, for me, it probably boils down to this. Did I do what God put in my heart to do? Did I influence people for Him? Did I love the music I put out? I think if I can say yes to those things, then I am a success, no matter where the numbers land.
What is your favorite album of all time?
Jon: Delirious5 - Cutting Edge, MIC - Crazy World & Vangelis - Chariots Of Fire - Soundtrack
Tim: Mutemath - Self Titled “Mutemath”.
You're stuck on an island, it's hot, you only have enough battery life left to listen to one song on your phone. What track is it?
Jon: “The Year Of The Lord’s Favour” - World Wide Message Tribe
TIm: I cheat and find a 3 hour DJ Mix from someone playing good house music.
What does the next year hold for you?
More and more music. We really want to release a song we have finished about forgiveness and finish a handful of other songs that are close to being done! We also want to continue our weekly radio show “Movement Radio” filled with the best electronic dance music, scripture and the Gospel (you can catch it on CrossRhythms Radio in the UK on the weekends). We sincerely hope to make it back to the Netherlands, which became our home away from home, doing school outreach with our good friend Alko. He runs a fantastic ministry called Afterbeat Cafe & Life Church Veendam. And of course also the UK, The Northeast of England & Dunfermline, Scotland…. We’ll see.
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